Collaborative opportunity to leverage network infrastructure in the southern hemisphere between Africa, Brazil, and the U.S. Heidi MORGAN1*, Julio IBARRA2, Jeronimo BEZERRA2, Luis Fernandez LOPEZ 2,3, Vasilka CHERGAROVA 2, Donald A. “Chip” COX III 4, Michael STANTON5, Aluizio HAZIN5, Len LOTZ6, Siju MAMMEN7 1University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA, Email:
[email protected] 2Florida International University, Miami, USA Emails:
[email protected],
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[email protected] 3Academic Network of São Paulo (ANSP), Email:
[email protected] 4Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA, Email:
[email protected] 5Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa (RNP), Email:
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[email protected] 7National Research and Education Network in South Africa (SANReN), Email:
[email protected] Abstract Linking South and North America via a South Atlantic high-performance Research & Education Network (REN) with the researchers, students, and knowledge sharing communities of the nations of Africa has become an increasingly strategic priority. Africa offers research and education communities with unique biological, environmental, geological, anthropological and cultural resources. Research challenges in atmospheric and earth sciences, materials sciences, tropical diseases, biology, astronomy and other disciplines will benefit by enhancing the technological and social connections between the research and education communities of the U.S., Brazil / Latin America and Africa. For many years, we have seen the dramatic benefits of high-performance networking in all areas of science and engineering. The Americas Africa Research and eduCation Lightpaths (AARCLight) project (NSF OAC- 1638990) provided support for a grant to plan, design, and define a strategy for high-capacity research and education network connectivity between the U.S.